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Reverend David E. Blaine letter to his parents regarding life in Washington Territory, January 24, 1855

It would be a grateful privilege to be at home during the short time it will take me to write this letter. If this were at all possible, I could communicate much more & could answer many questions you would probably ask in reference to matters about which I may not think to write, or cannot hope to make intelligible with my pen. How often we long to see you all and tarry with you at least for a night! but we are far away from home, the house o fthe past, and to which memory returns almost every hour. WE dream of you by night, talk of you by day, and ask each other when we shall see you again. And in the absence of an answer conclude most cheerfully to wait the will of our heavenly Guide & Master. It has been some time since we have had an opportunity to write you - owing to the irregularity in our steamer.

Catherine has written home about every mail. and has been quite minute in her descriptions & careful in giving particulars of news. I suppose you have an opportunity to read her letters. She will not write this week - as we have had company all the week and her time has been well occupied in doing housework. We are enjoying excellent health and in our secular affairs we are blessed with a reasonable degree of prosperity. Though we are only permitted to think of you as now housed up & snowed in, we are here having very mild weather. It called rainy but it very seldom rains more than a few hours at a time, & then we have fair weather for days but rainy nights. We have had a few days of weather so cold as to freeze ice the thickness of a window glass, but no snow.

[In sides and top margins, continuation of letter from page 4:] probably be sent to some other house or place of labor without a home. If it should be held soon, we may be reappointed. Our church is not yet quite done. The carpenters have been employed on another building some thre weeks pass but are to be back again in a few days. I think we will not be able to dedicate it until April. We think we shall not havea debt of more than $200, when it is finished. perhaps not so much. Had the times been good this could have been raised very easy. Our love to all our brothers, sisters and cousins-nieces and friends. We want you to write often.

Your affectionate son,

David.

I hope Saron will not disappoint me in those papers for which I wrote last.Send Kate's note home as soon as convenient.

Between December 1854 and July 1855, Governor Stevens forced representatives from the various tribes around Washington Territory to sign away vast amounts of land in return for money, reservations, and other provisions. Though these treaties promised white miners would not be allowed on reservation lands, miners and other white settlers frequently passed through these lands, stealing horses from the tribes and abusing Native American women. Stevens had not fully explained to the tribes that until the treaties were confirmed by Congress, whites would be allowed to settle on reservation lands. Following incidents of abuse from white settlers, some members of the Yakima tribe responded by killing eight white men. When Indian Subagent, Andrew J. Bolon tried to investigate these murders, he was killed by the son of a Yakima chief, Mosheel, sparking the Yakima War (1855-56). By the end of 1856, the conflict had come to an end and in 1858 the Yakima were confined to a reservation. The Blaines lived in Seattle during this period and remained there until some Native Americans attacked Seattle in January 1856. Following the attack, they left to live and work in Portland, Oregon Territory. David Edwards Blaine was born in 1824 in New York. He studied at Auburn Theological Seminary to become a Methodist Episcopalian minister. In 1853, he married Catherine Paine. The pair lived in Seneca Falls, New York and both were active in the New England evangelical movement during the 1840s and 1850s. In the fall of1853, the Blaines went as missionaries to Puget Sound by ship, crossing the Isthmus of Panama. They finally landed at Alki in November 1853. Initially, they stayed as guests in the home of early settlers, Arthur A. Denny and his wife, Mary. The Blaines did their best to adapt to pioneer life, though Catherine frequently lamented in letters home how savage and dirty the settlers and the local Native Americans were. The other settlers found the Blaines a little too well-mannered but they eventually warmed to them. Meanwhile, the Blaines went about the business of serving the community and making a life for themselves. David frequently helped clear lots while Catherine did her best to undertake housekeeping. In December 1853, David established a Methodist Episcopal congregation under his ministry. Church meetings were held in a building offered by Guthrie Latimer. Unfortunately, David's sermons usually attracted no more than four people. In January 1854, many of the settlers combined to employ Catherine as a school teacher. She initially taught eight students and earned a salary of $65 a month. School was first held in the Latimer Building and later in the Blaines' new home. Carson Boren and Doc Maynard offered land to the Blaines for a church, parsonage and seminary. In May 1855, a small white church, nicknamed the "Little White Church" was officially dedicated. In January 1856, Catherine gave birth to their son, Jon, just days before the Battle of Seattle took place in the Yakima War. Following the battle, the couple moved to Portland for further missionary work. In the 1860s, the Blaines moved back to New York and aided his brother in taking care of a farm. The Blaines returned to Seattle in 1882. In 1900 David died. Catherine died eight years letter. The letters they sent home to New York during from 1853 to 1855 paint a vivid picture of early settler life in Seattle.

It would be a grateful privilege to be at home during the short time it will take me to write this letter. If this were at all possible, I could communicate much more & could answer many questions you would probably ask in reference to matters about which I may not think to write, or cannot hope to make intelligible with my pen. How often we long to see you all and tarry with you at least for a night! but we are far away from home, the house o fthe past, and to which memory returns almost every hour. WE dream of you by night, talk of you by day, and ask each other when we shall see you again. And in the absence of an answer conclude most cheerfully to wait the will of our heavenly Guide & Master. It has been some time since we have had an opportunity to write you - owing to the irregularity in our steamer.

Catherine has written home about every mail. and has been quite minute in her descriptions & careful in giving particulars of news. I suppose you have an opportunity to read her letters. She will not write this week - as we have had company all the week and her time has been well occupied in doing housework. We are enjoying excellent health and in our secular affairs we are blessed with a reasonable degree of prosperity. Though we are only permitted to think of you as now housed up & snowed in, we are here having very mild weather. It called rainy but it very seldom rains more than a few hours at a time, & then we have fair weather for days but rainy nights. We have had a few days of weather so cold as to freeze ice the thickness of a window glass, but no snow.

[In sides and top margins, continuation of letter from page 4:] probably be sent to some other house or place of labor without a home. If it should be held soon, we may be reappointed. Our church is not yet quite done. The carpenters have been employed on another building some thre weeks pass but are to be back again in a few days. I think we will not be able to dedicate it until April. We think we shall not havea debt of more than $200, when it is finished. perhaps not so much. Had the times been good this could have been raised very easy. Our love to all our brothers, sisters and cousins-nieces and friends. We want you to write often.

Your affectionate son,

David.

I hope Saron will not disappoint me in those papers for which I wrote last.Send Kate's note home as soon as convenient.